They scoffed at the sight of the new state motto: "Iowa, Freedom to Flourish." On a recent drive back from a conference in Minnesota, longtime friends Katy Swalwell and Jennifer Leatherby passed by Iowa's welcome sign and were appalled by the slogan. Announced in 2023, Gov. Kim Reynolds has said the new "Freedom to Flourish" motto promotes Iowa as a place of opportunity and an employment destination to attract new talent and build the workforce while bringing Iowans who left the state back home. But the two Des Moines area residents, who recently released a children's book featuring LGBTQ+ Iowans, "From Here and Queer," found it tone-deaf and contradictory to the flurry of legislation impacting LGBTQ+ youth and families in Iowa, including the state's book ban law. Although it was written for children and has no sexual content, Swalwell and Leatherby both anticipate their book could be banned in Iowa schools under Senate File 496, as other nonfiction books for younger readers already...